Chapter 22 - Scare (3)

Ye Tianbao was stunned. What happened to his mom today? He burst into tears for real this time. He said as he cried, “I want to go home! I want to tell grandma that…. Mom was being mean to me.”

Wow, so spoiled. That was being mean to you? Tere would be more being mean to you then.

Exactly how terrible was the Ye’s to Ye Jingjing? Ye Zhiqiang had made quite a bit of money and only had these two children. As much as they subscribed to the idealism that boys were better, this was ridiculous. Ye Jingjing had a total of three sets of clothes. One set was from last summer, and the other two were the cheapest one could find in the market.

She searched her memories and she couldn’t even blame this one onto old Mrs. Ye. The problem laid with the original owner.

Ye Zhiqiang was quite generous with his money and has been giving $500 monthly to original owner. Back in ’92, $500 was a lot of money. Many farmers barely made that much in an entire year. And yet, the original owner was so frugal and saved every penny that she could so she could give them to her own family.

The more she learned about the original owner, the less Shu Yan felt bad for her. As the saying goes, everything happens for a reason.

She picked a set of clothes for Ye Jingjing and said, “Alright, let’s head out.”

Shu Yan quite liked daughters. She had always thought about how she’d dress her daughter up when she has one. Well, that dream had sort of came true. Once she finalized her divorce, she would take Ye Jingjing and buy her all sorts of pretty clothes.

This time when she walked outside, Ye Tianbao finally stopped crying. Children were really smart. The more attention you paid them, the more they knew you care. If you didn’t pay them a lot of attention, they’d know that fussing was moot and wouldn’t that again the next time.

“Get up,” said Shu Yan as she kicked him on his foot.

“No!” Pouted Ye Tianbao, still throwing a fit.

Shu Yan didn’t bother reasoning with him. She just picked him up and walked inside the bathroom.

Ye Tianbao kicked his feet frantically. He was strong, and Shu Yan almost couldn’t subdue him. She walked inside the bathroom in a few steps, quickly placed the eel-like Ye Tianbao onto the floor, turned on the shower head and sprayed on him.

“Look how dirty you are. Others would laugh at you if you go out like this.” Shu Yan cleaned him up with a few, swift moves, just the same way she used to help her mother bath their puppy.

Once she was done, she carried the butt-naked Ye Tianbao outside and tossed him onto the bed. She told Ye Jingjing to watch over him when she returned for a quick shower herself.

“Mom, someone’s knocking on the door,” said Ye Jingjing outside the bathroom door in a low voice.

Shu Yan had told her not to open the door if someone came knocking but to come and get her.

Shu Yan acknowledged her, put her clothes on, and asked from behind the door, “Who is it?”

She looked through the peephole but could only see the clothes, and they were a blur no less.

“I am a server with the hotel. Downstairs complained about water leaking. I came to check it out.”

The voice was unfamiliar, and Shu Yan was alarmed right away, “We didn’t even use the bathroom earlier. Why would there be any leaking?” said Shu Yan purposefully.

“But the guests downstairs said there was some leaking. I just want to come in and take a look. It won’t take too long,” explained the server patiently.